Chapter 39: The Tide Turns
"That's right, brothers! Trust the leader! This ninjutsu is all show!" the Chunin officer next to Rhine echoed, bolstering the troops.
"We believe in the leader!" The ninja, reassured by their commanders, felt their fighting spirit surge. Their confidence was restored.
"Come on then, brat! We're not afraid of you!" Seeing his men's morale recover, Rhine felt a quiet relief. With so many of them, they could surely withstand this one attack.
"Hmph! You have no idea what you're dealing with. You think your numbers can save you? Let me show you true power!"
"Lightning Style: Kirin!"
Following the path of the Chidori, the colossal lightning beast descended from the heavens, crashing down upon the gathered ninja.
***BOOOOM!***
The explosion of raw energy annihilated everything within a two-kilometer radius. When the light and dust cleared, all the ninja were gone—vanished. Only Rhine Daly remained, lying broken and scarred on the scorched earth, clinging to life by a thread.
Tenchi had controlled the Kirin, deliberately sparing Rhine's life. Otherwise, a ninja of his level would have been utterly obliterated.
"Well, now you'll tell me who's backing you," Tenchi said, looking down at the dying man.
"Cough... cough... Is there any point in telling you now? I'm a dead man anyway," Rhine wheezed, spitting up a mouthful of blood.
"Hmph! Playing stubborn? Trying to bargain with your last breath? I don't think so." Tenchi saw through the ploy immediately. He wasn't in the mood to negotiate. In one swift motion, he ended Rhine Daly's life with his tantō.
"Pathetic. You thought you could trick me? You think I don't know who's behind this? This place borders the Land of Earth. Your backer must be that old fool, Ōnoki."
"Ōnoki is certainly meticulous. The last great war just ended, and he's already out here gathering forces. Hah! If Ōnoki dares to test me, I'll remind him of the terror of the Uchiha." Tenchi wiped the blood from his blade.
Before he became Tsuchikage, Ōnoki was just an ordinary, though persistent, ninja. The First and Second Tsuchikage saw his potential and took him under their wing, intending to groom him as the next leader.
The young Ōnoki once traveled with the Second Tsuchikage to Konoha to discuss an alliance. On the way, they unexpectedly encountered Madara Uchiha.
Despite being a potential ally, Madara showed no courtesy. He looked down on both Tsuchikage and Ōnoki. In Madara's eyes, Konoha didn't need allies; it needed subordinates. His arrogance was backed by overwhelming power.
Under the pressure of Madara's absolute strength, even the Second Tsuchikage—a man capable of erasing Kekkei Genkai—was severely injured, let alone the 13-year-old Ōnoki.
From that day forward, a deep-seated fear of Madara was etched into Ōnoki's soul, a shadow that would loom over him for decades.
"Ōnoki is a pitiable man, traumatized by Madara in his youth. Now that he thinks Madara is gone, he's getting bold again, daring to invade a small country to build his power. Well, now that I have this power, I'll have to teach him a proper lesson." Tenchi stored his blade in the Kamui dimension and set off to deal with the remaining rogue ninja.
***
On the other side, the enemy forces had been thrown into chaos since the appearance of the Kirin. Seizing the opportunity, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru began their counterattack.
"Fire Style: Flame Bomb!" Jiraiya yelled.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Orochimaru followed.
The wind fanned the flames, and the flames fed on the wind. Their combined ninjutsu created a massive fireball that engulfed several enemy ninja.
While these ninja were weak in Tenchi's eyes, for the three young genin, they were formidable opponents.
"Huff... huff... What the hell is Big Brother Tenchi doing? We can't hold out much longer like this," Jiraiya panted, his energy waning.
"Huff... Don't panic. He should be on his way. We just have to endure," Orochimaru said, though he was also gasping for breath. He was the strongest of the three, but his chakra reserves were draining fast.
"Can you two even keep going? If not, I can take over," Tsunade offered, looking at their exhausted states.
"No, Tsunade," Orochimaru insisted. "Your priority is to protect Tōka. If he dies, our mission fails, no matter what else happens."
"What does the mission matter now?! We'll die if this continues!" Tsunade argued, her voice tight with stress.
"Maybe... maybe I can help," Tōka interjected, unable to watch the children fight to their deaths for him. "I know a secret path. I could try to find the other people from the Land of Rice they've captured."
"No! It's too chaotic out there! You'd be killed instantly! I won't allow it!" Jiraiya shot down the idea immediately.
"Orochimaru, how much chakra do you have left?" Jiraiya asked, turning to his teammate.
"Just enough for one last ninjutsu," Orochimaru reported after a quick internal check.
"Me too. There are still over twenty of them. We can't win a taijutsu fight. Let's use our last combined ninjutsu and make it count." Jiraiya looked grimly at the enemies regrouping before them.
"Alright! I'll fight alongside you one last time!" Orochimaru agreed without hesitation.
"Fire Style: Flame Bomb!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
***BOOM!***
The huge fireball shot toward the enemy, but this time, it only managed to take out one ninja. They had used this tactic before, and the enemy was now prepared for it.
"It's over... We're done for," Jiraiya muttered. He and Orochimaru looked at each other and then collapsed to the ground, utterly spent. Their chakra was completely overdrawn. They were conscious, their eyes open, but their bodies refused to move.
It was at that worst possible moment that a figure emerged from the shadows behind Tsunade. A kunai gleamed in his hand as he thrust it toward her back.
"Tsunade! Look out!" Jiraiya and Orochimaru yelled in unison, but they were powerless to help, forced to watch the scene unfold.
***THWACK!***
Thanks to the warning, Tsunade managed to twist her body, avoiding a fatal blow to her vitals. But the kunai still sank deep into her arm.
"Damn it! There was one hiding behind us the whole time?!" Tsunade gritted her teeth, clutching her bleeding arm. She had dealt with the ones who charged from the front; she never expected a sneak attack from the rear.
"Hehehe... I've been waiting in that spot for a long time," the ninja sneered, his face twisted into a lecherous grin. "Too bad you dodged. But you've lost the use of one arm, and your friends are down. You have no backup. You're no match for me now."
"If you surrender and agree to serve me, I might just let you live." His eyes roamed over Tsunade in a way that made her skin crawl.
"Go to hell! A disgusting ninja like you? I'd rather die than surrender to you!" Tsunade spat back, her defiance strong despite the pain.
"Have it your way, then. I'll kill you. I can still have my fun with you afterward, you just won't be alive to know it." The ninja licked his lips and charged at Tsunade, kunai raised.
"TSUNADE!" Jiraiya screamed, his voice raw with helplessness.
*'Is this it? Am I going to die before I can become a great ninja like Grandpa and Second Grandpa? Tenchi... where are you now? Will I ever get to see you again?'* As the kunai came closer, Tsunade gave up on resisting and closed her eyes. Images of Hashirama, Tobirama, and Tenchi flashed through her mind.
She realized, without fully understanding it, that Tenchi had already found a place in her heart.
A long moment passed. Tsunade felt no impact, no searing pain.
*'Why hasn't anything happened? Am I already dead? Is this what death feels like? I don't feel anything...'* Cautiously, Tsunade opened her eyes.